Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The Arrow of Evolution

The grand procession of human evolution has delivered us to a pivotal
moment—a crisis that contains both creative and destructive potential. In fact,
you can’t have one without the other. At the height of any evolutionary crisis,
the two pathways appear side by side and illustrate the contrast between
traditional traits that no longer work and new ways of being that can carry the
species forward.

For years now we have become increasingly aware of what doesn’t work.
A consensus has formed, at least among those committed to honest appraisal,
that “we can’t go on like this much longer.” The consequences of a million
misguided choices have converged in our time to make that abundantly—and
depressingly—clear.

It has been much harder to look past the frightening scenarios of
impending collapse and see what we stand to gain on the other side. If we know
what traits can’t cross over this evolutionary boundary—a domineering and
rapacious relationship with the earth, for instance—then what will replace
them? What does a more evolved human look like?

We sense that the answer doesn’t lie in more or “better” technology,
or any “upgrade” to the existing machinery of western civilization. The
rational mind may not want to accept this, but in our deeper selves, we know:
What comes next must be radicallynew. It must not simply ensure
our basic survival, but also deliver what we have longed for and sought after
through all the millennia of our history: Freedom. Belonging. The peace that
comes from knowing who we are—and living in harmony with our true nature.

We know there is far more to being human than we’ve ever allowed
ourselves to be. We feel in our bones that our present devotion to the pursuit
of profit, property, power and privilege is an absurdity, that we are meant for
and capable of so much more. So much more.

The poet Rumi put it like this:

You sit here for days saying

This is strange business.

You’re the strange business.

You have the energy of the sun in you,

but you keep knotting it up

at the base of your spine.

You’re some weird kind of gold

that wants to stay melted in the furnace,

so you won’t have to become coins.

Say ONE in your lonesome house.

Loving all the rest is hiding

inside a lie.

Here’s the point: This truly “weird” way of living—hiding inside the
lie that we are small and helpless victims in an indifferent world—is already
headed for the evolutionary scrap heap. This is the trait—this alienation from our
authentic identity and sacred source—that cannot enter the future we have
collectively created. We will either grow into our true potential this
time, or we will perish.

As Rumi suggests, what has held us back until now is not fate, or the
whims of capricious gods, or any backroom cabal of conspirators. The guard towers
of this prison are manned by nothing other than our own thoughts and beliefs. Your
thoughts and beliefs. Day in and day out they reinforce your decision to “stay
melted in the furnace,” rather than take responsibility for the truth: There is
no world but the one you make.

If this sounds vaguely familiar to you, it’s because wise men and
women from every mystical tradition throughout time have been saying the same
thing. Yes, these ideas inevitably lead us back to the realm of spirit, and to
the thousand marvelous names we have for Mystery. It's a dimension we've tried
to ignore in modern times, a fact which has only served to deepen our
confusion. Happily, that wisdom is as available and inviting as ever.

Lately, however, the conversation has been joined by a new chorus of
voices: scientists at the leading edge of exploration into the fundamental
nature of reality. Turns out there is no “stuff” in our stuff, no tangible BBs
at the bottom of the pyramid of existence. Our universe is a unitary field of intelligent
and infinitely creative potential surging with energy. We participate in
turning possibility into particular reality all the time—through the content
and quality of our thoughts and beliefs in each present moment.

This marvelous capacity for aligning with universal wisdom in
consciously choosing what we think and believe—as a means of reshaping
ourselves and the world for a radically different future—is where the arrow of
human evolution presently points. It is the essential characteristic of the new
humanity currently emerging. It isn’t a short or an easy road, but it is the
one we are destined to walk.

Next
week I will discuss why harnessing the power of your thoughts has nothing at
all to do with dreaming up a new Mercedes in the driveway—and why the evolution
of conscious creative awareness is also a genuine revolution in the
making.